Pages

Friday, September 25, 2015

Xinhua published on 22 September 2015 a commentary reprinted by Fahamu and allAfrica.com titled "Africa: Now It's the Right Time to Deepen China-Africa Cooperation!" by Qiu Xuejun, China's ambassador to Eritrea. The commentary reads like talking points prepared in Beijing for Chinese ambassadors in Africa. Ambassador Qiu added a section at the end dealing specifically with China-Eritrea relations.

The article has some useful updated statistics. It states that China-Africa trade in 2014 totaled $222 billion. (This compares with $203 billion using International Monetary Fund statistics for 2014). China's cumulative FDI in Africa has reached $30 billion, which almost certainly understates the actual figure. Chinese commercial loans to Africa have exceeded $50 billion. In 2013, almost 2 million Chinese nationals visited Africa and more than a half million Africans visited China.